Floriade with its dazzling tulips is finished, but the brilliant flowers here in the Botanic Gardens are flourishing. This walk, around and about the buildings, starts outside the Visitors Centre. The pots outside the doors include Darwinia oldfieldii, a small shrub whose stems are clad with tiny foliage and terminal deep red flowers. It is overlooked by Isopogon sp. with large pink flowers.

On Banks Walk, the shrub clad with dense white starry flowers is Philotheca myoporoides subsp. acuta, while beside the Joseph Banks sculpture, Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa [Section 172] continues to bear the renowned large red pea-shaped flowers with dark centres. In a pot is the colourful Rhodanthe chlorocephala subsp. rosea with pink and white papery flower heads. Hardenbergia violacea [Section 210] continues to climb about other shrubs with its purple pea-shaped flowers, while on the side path Boronia megastigma [Section 210] radiates its perfume from its small dark flowers. Nearby, Chorizema cordatum [Section 210] displays its orange-red pea-shaped flowers along its extended stems and the small shrub Hypocalymma robustum [Section 210] bears its tiny pink or cream flowers along the stems. Continuing along Banks Walk, Hibbertia empetrifolia [Section 210] covers the rock wall with its bright yellow open flowers amid dark green foliage. Above is a waratah, Telopea ‘Braidwood Brilliant’ [Section 210] with many red flowers which are not yet completely open. Chamelaucium ‘Cascade Jewel’ [Section 174] bears many waxy mottled pink flowers over the open shrub, while in a pot Actinodium cunninghamii is attractive with its cherry red terminal flower heads trimmed with cream frills.

At each end of the bridge to the café, Richea dracophylla [Section 66,305] stands upright with well arranged tapering leaves, the plants tipped with cream flower spikes. In front of the café Daviesia horrida [Section 245] bears spiky leaves and orange pea flowers with red centres. The Ellis Rowan garden edging the building contains Epacris longiflora [Section 131], its straggling stems bearing slim red tube-shaped flowers with white mouths, while Micromyrtus ciliata [Section 131] clothes its low shrub with tiny white flowers along its arching branches. Take the path to the right for a good view of the floral emblem of NSW, Telopea speciosissima [Section 239], displaying its renowned red terminal flowers on tall stems. Opposite, the large hibiscus-like flowers are those of Alyogyne huegelii [Section 240].

Returning to the corner of the building continue to the right to view plants including Acacia lineata [Section 143], a dense dwarf wattle yellow with small fluffy flower balls, Grevillea aquifolium [Section 143], an upright shrub with short greenish toothbrush flowers and the Common Net Bush, Calothamnus quadrifidus [Section 12] with droopy red feathery flower clusters.

Calothamnus quadrifidus- click for larger image

To view some orchids, return to the café and take the road on the far side which edges the Rainforest. On the rocks are Dendrobium falcorostrum [Section 125] which has short pseudobulbs and large cream floral sprays and Dendrobium kingianum [Section 125] which has sprays of small loose pink flowers. There are also the large King or Rock Orchids, Dendrobium speciosum [Section 125] with longer pseudobulbs and large thick, leathery leaves, and large cream perfumed floral sprays. The hot house contains many other orchids to admire.